Finsbury Park Mosque: Izzadeen is believed to have attended speeches by Abu Hamza at the Islington mosque. Photograph: Matt Buck

A a solicitor for Abu Izzadeen, a Hackney-born Islamic extremist who was named by Channel 4 News as the man behind an attack in Westminster which left three others dead, has denied the claims, saying his client is still in prison.

Channel 4 journalist Assem Baig later tweeted to confirm the news after speaking to Izzadeen’s brother, and the network has now admitted it is not sure who was responsible.

Abu Izadeen’s brother has told me that the Westminster attacker is not his brother, he says he’s brother is still in jail

Four people, including a police officer and the suspect, are so far confirmed to have died in today’s incident.

Witnesses have described how the attacker mowed down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before crashing his car into a gate outside the Houses of Parliament. He is then said to have stabbed and killed the officer before being shot by armed police.

Izzadeen was born to a Christian Jamaican family in Hackney but converted to Islam at the age of 17.

He gained notoriety in 2008 for heckling the then Home Secretary, John Reid, during the minister’s speech at a Leytonstone school.

The Muslim activist is thought to have been radicalised by Omar Bakri Mohammed and Abu Hamza at Finsbury Park mosque.

Channel 4 issued a statement saying: “On tonight’s Channel 4 News, senior home affairs correspondent Simon Israel quoted a source as saying that the name of the Westminster attacker was believed to be Abu Izzadeen, formerly known as Trevor Brooks.

“During the course of the programme, conflicting information came to light. Channel 4 News is currently looking into this.”

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I don’t think it’s him. The nose was curved, but of course, everything else same.

Z Akhtar

March 22, 2017 at 10:35 pm

What utter madness. You can’t even identify a person. Typical.

Michael Grennan

March 23, 2017 at 2:15 am

Irrelevant! It doesn’t matter about someone’s name. What we need to identify is the cause of this ‘utter madness’. Everyone will have varying viewpoints concerning this, and all are pertinent, but sanity can only prevail through dialogue.